David Moyes has revealed Everton currently have no plans in place for the January transfer window while the club is up for sale by The Friedkin Group.
The Blues endured a frustrating summer window, particularly on transfer deadline day, as Iliman Ndiaye, Tim Iroegbunam, Beto and Nathan Patterson all left the club.
While they managed to re-sign Jack Grealish on loan from Manchester City and bring in Ainsley Maitland-Niles from Lyon, they failed to bring in a new striker after Folarin Balogun rejected a move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium at the 11th hour.
Moyes praises squad after summer departures
Those dealings left Everton short, with Moyes continuing to bemoan the loss of some of his important players and the failure to replace them. Yet with the Blues sitting seventh in the table, able to move level with the top four with a win over Coventry City on Friday night, and through to the League Cup quarter-finals, Moyes was full of praise for his remaining ranks for continuing to deliver in challenging circumstances.
"No. At the moment, there's no plans (for January), no," he admitted. "I think the current group we've got are doing excellent.
"I think, especially knowing the way things have gone in the summer and the window, I think they need praise for how they're doing and they're going about it.
"We've lost a couple of games, but we've won a few important games as well. So, pleased with them and I hope we can keep it going."
Moyes reflects on league position and squad depth
Moyes said there is a lot to be positive about because of how the team has been doing generally, adding that they could have been doing better if they had not lost some players in the summer.
"I think it would have kept us right and amongst it. We've dipped and the other night we won at Newcastle but if we don't, we could have been sitting here maybe 15th or 16th in the league, I don't know where it would have been," he said.
"But it would have still only been probably three or four points off the top teams. So, it's very hard to judge the league standings at the moment. I think all you can try and do is get as many wins as you possibly can and perform as well as we've done."
Moyes insisted he has not been surprised by his side's promising start to the season despite their limited numbers, and warned his players they cannot take their places in his side for granted after being impressed by their efforts in back-to-back wins over Newcastle United.
"I'm going to say no (I'm not surprised by how we're doing) because I want to be up there and I want to be challenging," he said. "It was disappointing when we lost some of our best players because it would have definitely helped us and given us a real chance of continuing to do it.
"Let's be fair, last season we were probably quite similar. We were in and around the top end of the league for long parts of it. So, I hope we can keep that going. But, as I said, because the league is so tight, you know, if you lose a game you can be dropping down, if you win a game you can be pushed up."
He continued: "I had in my head that we would probably change when we went up to Newcastle, just for different reasons. I just thought we might need different things there.
"We've only got a small group of players as you know. 18, 17 outfield players at the moment. And I want them to feel that if they play then we need them, we use them.
"But they've also got to show, they can't come in and not be productive. If you've got the jersey, it's quite hard to give it away and give it over to somebody else.
"But the two Newcastle games showed me that we've got 14, 15 of them who can come into the team and be used. We need to be unpredictable sometimes, but also I want it to be a challenge for the players in the team that they don't think that suddenly they've got the jersey and they've not got much competition."
